Disease
by BubblesFullbuster
Summary: Lucy is a patient in a hospital. Then something happens. Lucy must find out what went wrong... But she isn't alone in this hospital of horrors.
1. Chapter 1

**This is an AU. Lucy is in a hospital (I won't say what sort because you have to read and find out for yourself!) and something happens. Please read and tell me what you think! Characters might be OOC.**

Cold, dark hallways stretched out to either side of Lucy. Barely illuminated by dim, flickering lights, the hallways emitted a spooky atmosphere, warning the patients to stay in their rooms. The eerie silence chilled Lucy to the core - it was not supposed to be this silent in a hospital. The last time Lucy had been out of her room, the cheery chatter of doctors and nurses had filled the corridors. They had walked up and down the corridors, patrolling and spying on the patients in their rooms. The stillness surrounded Lucy, enticed her to walk down the corridor and into whatever lay beyond the stifling darkness. Lucy turned on her heel and shut her room door behind her. The clang of the door echoed throughout the halls. Nobody heard it.

-x-

Before The Change, food was delivered three times daily through a slot in her door - heaped plates of delicious steaming food on sparkling white plates. Her bedsheets were changed weekly while she was outside during mandatory exercise hours. Her room was cleaned daily, and filth and dirt were mostly foreign concepts to her. Her room was, as far as hospital rooms go, quite large. A spacious white room with a double bed, an en suite bathroom with a luxurious bath tub, a door leading to the flourishing gardens and exercise area outside. To the undiscerning eye, one might think that this was the room of a wealthy heiress - and they would be partially right. The room did indeed belong to the wealthy Lucy Heartfilia - but she was no longer an heiress. Her father had remarried and produced a son, who became the automatic heir to the Heartfilia fortune. Fortunately for Lucy, her father had seen fit to set aside one-third of the fortune for her when she came of age. The money had rested in the bank for over a decade, untouched except for the yearly withdrawals from the hospital for their fees. Lucy lived alone in the lap of luxury, a prisoner of the fortune that bound her to stay in the overly-perfect hospital. Minor clues were the only thing that let on that this room was not as perfect as it appeared to be. Soft leather cuffs attached to the sides of the bed, a wardrobe with stark white clothes, and the absence of anything breakable or dangerous. A vase of vividly violet flowers - in a beautifully crafted plastic vase fixed to the windowsill. The windows gleamed, shiny reflections on plastic.

And then, The Change happened. Lucy entered her room through the door to the gardens and stopped short at the lack of light. For the first time since her admission into the hospital, the electricity had been turned off. Her room looked distinctly creepier in the dark, black shadows forming nightmarish shapes in the corners of her room. She shuffled fearfully to her bathroom and sat in the bath tub, rocking and staring at the lights, as if they would somehow illuminate the room in response to her terror. The lights remained off - the elaborate light fittings taunting her with their resolute stillness. She slept in the bath tub that night, only venturing out of the bathroom the next day when it was time for the mandatory exercise hours. The fresh air and bright sunlight filled Lucy with joy, and she frolicked in the sun for the full three hours. When the siren rang out, at the same time as every other day, Lucy sighed in disappointment and headed back inside. The doors locked automatically behind her as she stepped into the room. The lights were back - not fully, but enough that Lucy could see her surroundings. Her bedsheets remained crumpled on her bed where she had left them that morning, untouched. Her lunch tray had not been delivered to her room yet, and Lucy's stomach grumbled in protest. Lucy had now not eaten since breakfast time yesterday, and she was starving. Her face pulled into a grimace and she stalked towards the bed, wrapping herself up in the creased duvet. With nothing to do, Lucy slept. And while she slept, she dreamed dreams of stark white rooms, men in green surgery masks, and a face that seemed familiar yet completely alien. A blond haired man, with a mustache. Behind him was a castle - mansion? - With windows that shone in the sunlight. A young girl played on the lawn, chattering to herself as she played with her dolls. The pretty dresses that should have been on her dolls were discarded behind the girl, and the dolls were instead clad in clothes obviously made by the young girl. A harsh voice interrupted the girl's game. "Lucy!"

Lucy shot upright, sweat trailing down her brow, in a panic. That had been a new dream. Who was the man? Who was the little girl? What was that castle behind them, the one that seemed so familiar and yet so foreign at the same time? A glance at the clock on the wall showed that she had slept through the night. It was now morning. Around this time, breakfast would normally be delivered to Lucy's room on a silver tray. Bacon, eggs, toast and tomatoes, cooked to perfection. Lucy clamped her arms tightly around her stomach as it grumbled loudly. Lucy sighed - until mandatory exercise hour, there was nothing to do but sit and wait. She sat, enveloped in her goosefeather duvet, and watched the lights as they flickered on and off. The dim light provided an interesting atmosphere for her reflections. Lucy sat in a lotus position, the duvet falling from her shoulders. As she began to meditate, Lucy wondered again - as she always did - where she had learned this art.

-x-

About a week had passed since The Change. Lucy had received no food since then, and her body was beginning to show it. Her face was pale and drawn, her body showing the fragile bones beneath her skin. Her long hair lay limp against her head, with none of the volume and vitality it usually contained. Lucy had been lying motionless on her bed for that week of hungriness, too lacking in energy to even go outside for the mandatory exercise hours. Her stomach grumbled weakly, and Lucy frowned down at it. Lucy knew she was hungry - there was no need for her stomach to remind her of its emptiness.

Mustering up what little energy she had, Lucy shuffled weakly to the door that led to the corridors. She raised her bony arms and beat gently against the iron door. "Hello? Please help me…" Her voice, crackling from disuse, came out in a breathless whisper. Lucy cleared her throat and tried again. "Please, somebody! Please help me!" Listening intently, she thought she heard a faint scuffling outside the door. Encouraged by the noise, Lucy beat her hands harder against the door. "I'm starving! Please help me… Don't leave me alone in here to die…" Her voice cracked on the last words, and Lucy crumpled into a heap on the floor, dissolving into loud, painful sobs. The food hatch on her door clattered open, squeaking in protest. Lucy bent down to look through, and spied a pair of stormy blue-grey eyes. The eyes disappeared and before Lucy could call out, a bowl of hot soup and a roll were pushed through the hatch. Lucy gulped the food down hurriedly, almost fearful that it would be taken away again.

Lucy called through the hatch, but the eyes didn't reappear. Lucy carried her bowl to the bathroom and washed it in the gleaming white basin. She may not have done her own housekeeping, but even she knew that it was unhygienic to have dirty dishes where you slept. Lucy walked back to her bed and collapsed onto it out of pure exhaustion – a mere bowl of soup was not able to replenish the energy she had lost after a week of not eating. Drifting off into a restless sleep, Lucy did not notice the stormy eyes watching her from the small window in her door.

When Lucy awoke the next morning, a large bowl of cereal and milk waited for her by the door. Lucy gulped it down and paced anxiously around her room. Now that she knew there was someone else in the hospital with her, could she really stay in her room like a scared little girl? Deciding against trying to unlock her mechanised door, Lucy sat and meditated. Her trance was disturbed by the clanking of her food door. When Lucy opened her eyes, a stale sandwich with butter sat awaiting her attention. She ate it slowly, chewing the bread several times before gulping it down with difficulty.

This procedure happened every day for exactly a week – Lucy would entertain herself in her room and food would be delivered at regular intervals each day. The power was still out, so Lucy had to find ways to entertain herself that didn't require electricity. On the seventeenth day after the change, Lucy awoke to find the lights at full power, shining brightly down from their sockets in the ceiling. She jumped up and ran to the door, scarcely noting the food on the floor. She hammered on the door loudly. "Let me out! Please! LET ME OUT!" Lucy screamed with all her might.

She sat and stared intently at the door. Maybe… Maybe if she stared hard enough, it would open. For exactly 5 hours, Lucy sat and stared at the door. As the clock struck one o' clock, the food hatch started to swing open. Lucy flipped onto her stomach and stared outside. The stormy eyes appeared in the small gap and stared back into Lucy's eyes. "Please let me out." Lucy whispered pleadingly. The eyes blinked once, twice, and disappeared. A new plate of food was deposited into Lucy's room. Loud footsteps reached Lucy's ears, and she almost started to cry. She was never going to get out of this room and find out what had happened.

Early the next morning, as Lucy tossed in her sleep, a loud ringing buzz sounded throughout her room. Lucy sat bolt upright and stared at the door. It clicked – and swung softly open on its hinges. Lucy stepped tentatively towards it and peered outside. Long empty white hallways to either side. With eyes wide-open and a heart beating faster than a rabbit, Lucy took a deep breath… and stepped into the empty void.

**So, what do you think? Should I continue or not? Please let me know in a review! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so maybe this isn't an AU. I'm still trying to sort out this story in my head – so many bunnies are bouncing in my head, it's driving me insane! Also, I'm sorry for the super-long wait, I've been so uninspired and busy with school. But I got this chapter done, so yay! :D I hope you enjoy it, and please drop me a review or a PM to let me know what you think! :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not, unfortunately, own Fairy Tail. If I did, Lucy would have A LOT of boyfriends. Just saying. xD**

**-x-**

The corridors were endless, twisting and twining in every direction. On the first day of freedom, Lucy navigated her way around the outside layer of corridors. Hundreds of deserted rooms, identical to hers, were scattered along the corridors. The few that Lucy had entered reeked of an unknown foul substance, preventing Lucy from entering any of the others. On some occasions, Lucy spotted dried stains of blood along the walls. Although this was scary, Lucy could not bring herself to lock herself back into her room. The extended periods of walking hurt her legs, which were unused to so much motion. Barely a week after the power had gone out, the battery backups for the doors to the outside world had trickled off, leaving Lucy in absolute darkness.

A waft of clean air drifted across Lucy's face, and she was surprised to note that she'd made a full circle back to her room. She knew it was her room, because it was the only one that didn't smell putrid and vile. Lucy took a few sheets of paper from her room, in addition to a blunt pencil. Once again, Lucy made her way around the corridors, counting each step and sketching a rectangle on her paper to scale. She marked every other room with a small dark **X**, in order to keep record of the rooms in the hospital. According to her map, there were around 200 rooms on this floor – and each room was rather large and well-furnished. Lucy assumed that this hospital had undergone a serious disaster – but what?

**-x-**

The next day, Lucy became slightly more adventurous. A meal had been left in the open doorway of her room, where she had spent the night. She ate her food and picked up her map and pencil, deciding to explore some more. This time, Lucy braced herself and opened every single door she came across, certain that not all of them were bedrooms. Sure enough, on the opposite side of the building to where her room was, she found a door that led to a steep flight of stairs. She walked carefully along the stairs, ignoring the panic growing in her chest at the darkness – it appeared that there were no lights in this stairway. Lucy raised her foot to take another step, and almost fell when the step wasn't there. She had evidently reached the top of the stairs. Feeling her way across the wall until she found a door, Lucy walked cautiously. As she opened the door, the sudden brightness almost blinded her. It was sunlight from a huge wall of glass opposite the door, too large to simply be called a window. Lucy frowned as she considered that this sunlight was warmer and brighter than the sunlight outside where she had been allowed to go every day. Shaking her head, Lucy grabbed another sheet of paper from her small pile and traced the rectangle from the previous page. Lucy looked left and right – each corridor appeared to stretch out equal distances, although the left appeared to contain less doors. Lucy squared her shoulders and strode towards the first door. Opening it tentatively, Lucy prepared herself for the vile scent she had become accustomed to, but it didn't come. Lucy threw the door open and stood amazed in the doorway: a gigantic kitchen, stocked with every variety of machine and lacrima imaginable. She spotted ovens, fridges, freezers, cupboards and even bread-making machines. Lucy noted this in her head and decided that the hospital must have provided its own food, hence the many machines.

She opened each fridge and scanned the contents: fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy and drinks. Fresh bread in the cupboards, huge varieties of cereal, sauces, pastas and even bottled water. Lucy grabbed a plastic bag from a pile in one cupboard and stuffed some food into it, as well as a few bottles of water. She placed her spare paper into the packet as well, and headed out of the room to the next one. This was a dining room, with a magnificent oak table and chairs. The next few rooms were mostly sitting rooms with opulent couches and lavish decorations. However, the next room Lucy came upon appeared to be very interesting: a library with shelves stretching up to the ceiling, overflowing with books. Lucy grinned and hurried through the doorway, examining the thousands of books in the shelves. She marked this door on her map with a small star so that she'd be able to find it again, before taking some interesting books off the shelves and placing them in her plastic bag. Lucy left the room, glad that she would have something to read when she got bored. She had always loved reading, even as a small child. One of her happiest memories was when she found the library at her dad's mansion. She had spent an entire day reading every book she could reach (which wasn't much, as she was very short then). She had read about… Something. Lucy's head suddenly flared up with pain and she dropped to the floor, clutching her head in her hands. Tears streaked down her cheeks and she stopped thinking about her past, trying to get her head to stop hurting. As quickly as it came, the pain dissipated. Lucy frowned and tentatively tried to remember what she'd been reading about. Again the pain struck her, worse this time. Lucy let out a yell and focused her mind on something, anything other than her past. The pain disappeared again, and Lucy let out a breathy sigh of relief. She opened up a bottle of water and took a quick swig before continuing her journey round the corridors.

There were not many interesting rooms. Most had nothing but a couch and a desk in, so Lucy decided to skip the exploration of those rooms. As she again approached the door that led to the stairs back down to her floor, Lucy entered the last room. This room was completely different to the other rooms on this level: where the other rooms had been pristine and well-furnished, this room was basic with papers scattered around the floor. A simple wooden desk stood in the furthest corner from the door, stacked high with papers. Lucy ventured into the room and scanned the papers on the floor. She picked up those that looked interesting, but she left the majority untouched. Lucy walked over to the desk and shuffled through the papers there. One thick brown folder of paper caught her eye: her name and photo were printed on the front. She swiped the folder up and shoved it into her plastic bag. The food in the bag had been eaten on her explorations, but the space was now completely taken over by books and papers. Lucy glanced around the room for anything of interest, and seeing nothing, walked out and closed the door behind her. She inched her way slowly down the pitch-black flight of stairs and returned to her room. In the bright artificial light, Lucy began to read the books she had chosen. She was almost certain that one of the books was identical to one she'd read as a child, and she wanted to experience the safe feeling of her past again. The thin red book, "Magic and Miracles", had at first grabbed her attention because of the image of a shining golden key on the front. She cracked open the book and began to devour the literary genius of the author, Yamato Kurosawa. As she read, her eyebrows sunk deeper and deeper into a frown. The book was discussing "mages" and "spirits" as if they were alive and real. Moreover, the book was saying that "mages" were actually in groups called "guilds". How could that be? Lucy had been taught, from the moment she entered this hospital, that magic was a lie, and that mages who wielded magic did not exist. This time, the pain came out of nowhere, forcing its way into Lucy's skull and driving sharp needles of pure agony into her brain. Thick swirls of black overcame Lucy's vision, and she felt herself drifting into unconsciousness.

**-x-**

"Lucy, this is your new mother. You will treat her with respect. Any disobedience or rudeness will not be tolerated." Jude Heartfilia glared sternly at his 5 year old daughter. Her chocolate eyes, so similar to Layla's, sent a piercing ache into his heart. Lucy glanced up at the tall black-haired woman next to him. As Lucy attempted a curtsy, she said timidly, "It's nice to meet you, miss." The strange woman stared down at Lucy and smiled broadly. "Hello, Lucy. My name is Mei Nikko. Well, actually it's Mei Heartfilia now. You may call me Mei." Lucy grinned up at Mei, pleased to see a smile on her face. "I'm going to my office. You will find me there if you require anything, Mei. Lucy – behave." The instant Jude had closed the door to his office behind him, the smile fell like acid from Mei's face. "Listen, brat. Your father and his money are mine now. You will obey me. If you do not, I will personally see to it that your life is a misery." Mei's harsh tone shocked Lucy, and she stood staring at Mei's icy eyes. Mei smirked and turned, heading up the stairs. Lucy stared after her, sadly wondering what she had done to offend Mei.

Dinner that night was awkward and uncomfortable. Lucy sat beside Mei, picking at her food. She avoided Mei's and her father's gaze throughout the meal, glancing up only when she was ordered to go to bed. As Lucy left the room, she overheard Mei saying sadly, "I don't know why she doesn't like me. I tried to be nice, but she just ignored me." Loud sobs echoed through the corridors as Lucy made her way to her room. As Lucy lay in bed thinking about Mei and her father, her bedroom door creaked open. Jude's imposing figure was framed by the passage light, making him appear scary. Lucy sat up and said softly, "Daddy?" Jude strode briskly into her room and pulled the covers away from her. He rolled her onto her stomach and raised his hand, bringing it hard down onto Lucy's bottom. Lucy screamed and tried to wriggle away, but his grip on her arm was hard and bruising. He hit her for a solid ten minutes, ignoring her shrieks of agony. He eventually let her go and walked back to the corridor. He turned in the doorway and glared at Lucy. "She is your new mother. You will not upset her like that ever again. Do you understand me, Lucy?" Lucy's eyes met his, betrayal and anger reflected in them. She glared back at him and nodded, whispering, "Yes, daddy. I understand perfectly."

**-x-**

Lucy bolted upright in her bed, horrified at the dream. That man with the mustache again… He looked so familiar. The lady too… Lucy shook her head, confused as to where these dreams were coming from. She must have seen those people at one stage in her life, because the human brain can't create faces – but where? And why were they manifesting themselves in her dreams now?

Lucy finished reading the last of the books she'd taken before heading back to the library. It was still early in the morning, according to the clock in her room. She walked quietly, still unsure about the hospital's deserted state. As her stomach grumbled, she stopped in a panic. If the hospital was deserted… who was leaving food for her in the mornings and evenings?! Lucy raced back to her room and hid in the bathroom, peeking around the corner occasionally to check for the mystery person. Time crawled by slowly, inching towards 8 'o' clock, the usual time Lucy woke up. Sure enough, she heard heavy footsteps pounding down the corridor. A male, Lucy assumed, because the steps were too heavy to be a woman. She peeked around the corner and waited.

Suddenly, a huge shadowed figure appeared in her doorway. It crouched down and placed a plate of steaming hot food on the floor in the doorway, then stood up and entered the room. Lucy hid behind the bathroom door and watched the man from the crack by the hinges. He also had the customary white clothes of hospital patients on, but that was about all Lucy could see of him. Spiky blonde hair, a large muscular build and white clothes. Lucy's eyes followed him as he whirled around in her bedroom, looking for her. Lucy's nose tickled from the dust that had gathered behind the bathroom door. She prayed silently to every god out there that it wouldn't happen, but it did. A dainty sneeze burst out of her mouth, and she clapped her hands to her face hoping that the man hadn't heard it. She peeked through the crack again and was relieved to see that the man had disappeared. Until a stormy blue eye appeared in the crack, right in front of her face. The man turned on his heel and ran into the corridor.

Lucy burst out of her room and raced after him, willing her legs to move faster and faster. She caught up to the man, which was surprising as he was almost as fast as lightning. She gently grabbed hold of his shirt and panted, "Please, stop. I just want to talk to you." The man stopped as suddenly as he'd started running. Lucy crashed into his broad back, knocking her head on the hard muscles cushioning his shoulder blades. He turned around and stared down at her – her head barely reached his shoulders. Lucy let go of his shirt and put her hands on her knees, panting from the exertion of chasing him. After a few seconds, the man said gruffly, "What do you want?"

Lucy looked up at him and smiled. "You're the one who's been bringing me food every day, and I bet you're the one who let me out of my room too. I just wanted to thank you." He stared down at her, confusion written all over his face. He muttered, "Okay, you're welcome. Can I go now?" Lucy stared up at him in shock. Why didn't he want to talk to her? "Well… are you and I the only ones left in this hospital?" He rolled his eyes and replied, "Do you see anyone else around here, Blondie?" She glared at him and retorted, "You're blonde too. If we're the only ones here, then why don't we be friends?" The man glared back and asked, "Why would you want to be friends with me?" Lucy mimicked him and rolled her eyes, saying, "Because I want a friend, and if we're stuck in this place together the least we can do is be civil." The man let out a sigh, ran his hand through his short spikes of blonde hair and said, "Fine, let's be civil. Who are you?" Lucy grinned at him, stuck her hand out and said, "I'm Lucy Heartfilia. And you are?" The man shook her hand quickly and replied in an exasperated voice.

"I'm Laxus Dreyar."

**-x-**

**So, another chapter done after a super long wait! Yeah, I know the whole "Blondie""You're blonde too" thing is kinda cliché but I had to say it! Also, kudos to anyone who knows Yamato Kurosawa! ;) Please drop me a review and tell me what you think! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**So I should really have been studying for possibly the most important exams of my life, but instead I decided to write this chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed, favourited and followed – I really appreciate it :D Also, thanks to XxShyxX for being so supportive of this story – I love hearing all the ideas I'm given **** On that note, anyone who wants to send me ideas or anything can feel free to PM me or drop a review :D **

**And now, on with the chapter!**

**-x-**

Lucy and Laxus stared each other down in the corridor after their tense introductions, neither wanting to be the first to look away. Laxus narrowed his eyes at Lucy, sending a mild glare crackling her way. Lucy folded her arms and stood her ground, glaring right back at Laxus. A tiny twitch in Laxus' nose diverted Lucy's attention, and she giggled at how much he looked like a rabbit when his nose twitched. Laxus glared even harder at Lucy, but she collapsed to the floor in a fit of laughter, holding her aching sides. "Tch. Whatever." Laxus muttered, and stormed off in the opposite direction. Lucy hurriedly stood up and chased after him, wiping sparkling tears from her eyes. She grabbed his shirt and giggled, "I'm sorry. It's just, I've been cooped up by myself for ages, and I've missed talking to people, and you looked like a bunny when your nose twitched, and – " Laxus stared wide-eyed down his nose at Lucy and grumbled, "A bunny? That's the best animal you could come up with?" Lucy nodded, stifling a gleeful grin. Laxus rolled his eyes and beckoned for Lucy to follow him as he headed towards the staircase. She followed a few paces behind him, watching as his muscles rippled under his white t-shirt. A surprisingly well-built, bad-tempered man, but Lucy couldn't help but think that there was more to him than what appeared. Laxus led Lucy to the well-stocked kitchen and perched himself in the only chair available, a gleaming steel monstrosity. Lucy perched herself delicately on one of the marble counters and asked, "So, do you know what happened here? All I know is, two weeks ago, the power went out and I was left in my room to die of starvation." Laxus folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, thinking a moment before replying.

"The same thing happened to me. About two weeks ago, I made a plan to escape one night. I took a doctor's keychain when he wasn't looking and I was planning to get out during the exercise hours. Woke up the next morning, waited for the hours to start and… Nothing. The outside door didn't open and the lights were out. I used the keys to get out of my room and I've been exploring since then. I found your room and heard you making a noise. I figured you must be hungry after two weeks without food, so I fed you. And there you have it. That's all I know." Lucy glanced sceptically at him and retorted, "There's no way it took you a week to explore this top floor. It only took me half a day." Laxus smirked and nodded. He replied, "You're right, Blondie. I explored every room in this floor and found a way out into the gardens. What took me a while was finding the keys attached to every corpse in this building. Lucy paled, cocking her head inquisitively. She stammered, "Corpse? You mean, they're all dead? Doctor Shiki, Nurse Ruka? Everyone?" Her eyes filled with tears and she wiped them away, annoyed – she didn't want this stranger to see her in a moment of weakness. Laxus thoughtfully averted his eyes, continuing his story. "They all look dead. There's blood everywhere. But there must be another person in this place with us, because every morning I find the bodies in different places. I don't know what kind of sick game they're playing, but I am getting out of this shithole." Lucy wiped her eyes one final time and glanced at Laxus. She hopped off of the counter and stood before him, her hands on her hips. "Right, well, I suppose we had better get to work then."

**-x-**

Laxus followed Lucy to the untidy office, dragging his feet sullenly. "Why do I have to come with you? It's time for my afternoon nap." He grumbled, and Lucy turned to stare at him. "I thought you wanted to get out of here?" She retorted. Laxus rolled his eyes and bent to inspect a scattered mess of papers on the floor. He picked them up and started organizing them into neat little stacks on the wooden desk. Lucy bent to help him, skim reading the papers as she went. Most appeared to be complex plans for machines, which Lucy understood nothing of. Here and there were several sheets of what seemed to be letters – Lucy set these and any other interesting papers to one side, intending to read them later. Laxus and Lucy worked in silence, speaking only to mutter apologies when their arms bumped. Laxus' hulking figure dwarfed Lucy's, and filled most of the room, so they inevitably bumped into each other when they worked at gathering the papers. After a short while, Lucy stood and wandered back to the kitchen. She grabbed two large gleaming plates from the cupboard and stacked onto them a variety of snacks she found in the refrigerators and cupboards. Lucy also poured two large glasses of orange juice and piled them onto a tray, along with the plates. Lucy walked carefully back to the office, wincing at every vile odour that hit her. As she entered the office, Lucy was astonished as how clean it looked without all the papers on the floor. Laxus was sitting in a corner, his back to the wall, frowning at a thick sheaf of papers in his hands.

Lucy shuffled over to Laxus and set the tray down beside him, before sitting down as well. She watched him reading for a bit, and then decided that perhaps she should announce her return. She cleared her throat and tapped him on the shoulder. Laxus' face drew back in a grimace and he pinched his nose, leaning his head back against the wall. "What do you want, Blondie? Can't you see I'm trying to read?" Lucy pouted at him and replied, "I brought food, and I just thought I should tell you." Laxus smirked and leaned closer to Lucy, whispering in her ear, "I know, Blondie. I smelled it as you walked in the room. I heard you swishing your way over here. I felt it when you bumped me as you sat down." Lucy stared wide-eyed at Laxus, her heart racing. He was too close – way too close. Lucy scowled and shoved Laxus away. She snapped, "Well, forgive me for not wanting you to die of hunger and leave me with a sicko in this hospital alone. And don't come so close again." Laxus grinned, his pointed incisors shining under the bright fluorescent lights. He leaned closer to Lucy's face, sniffing in her vanilla-strawberries scent. "But don't you like having me so close? I can hear your heart racing in your chest." Lucy stood up in a huff and stomped furiously over to the desk. She snatched up a thick wad of papers and turned in the doorway to face Laxus. "I don't have any choice but to be civil with you, but I will not tolerate such rude behaviour. I'm going to read these in my room. I'll see you tomorrow, Laxus." As Lucy turned once more to exit the door, Laxus' taunting voice flew across the room.

"Hey, Blondie? You might want to lock your door tonight."

**-x-**

Lucy read through the papers until late that night. Against her own desires, she locked herself into her room – for some reason, she had the feeling that it would be a good idea to listen to Laxus this once. It was shortly after midnight when Lucy finished the last piece of paper. Most of the pages were ramblings about some super-machine, all referring to page 17 – 84 of the booklet. These pages were not included in the pile Lucy had grabbed, so until tomorrow she would have no idea what the super-machine was. A clang echoed from outside, in the corridor, and Lucy drew herself into a ball. She glanced fearfully around, suddenly frightened that something might jump out at her from the shadows. Lucy quietly slipped off her bed and padded over to the door. She bent down as silently as she could and slid open the loose food hatch – and the sight beyond nearly gave her a heart attack.

Shuffling feet passed in every direction just outside her door. Legs clad in the pristine white of the hospital's uniforms, splattered with blood and shredded. Stumbling, shuffling feet drew bodies closer to, and then further away from, Lucy's bedroom door. Before she could stop herself, a loud gasp burst from her mouth. She slapped her hand over her mouth and prayed that it had gone unheard, but to no avail. Several pair of legs stopped walking, and turned to face Lucy's door. She drew the food hatch closed as quickly and quietly as she was able, and ran back to her bed. Lucy grabbed the blankets and pillows from her bed and carried them to the bath. Setting up a bed in the bath, Lucy listened for any sounds of her door breaking. She closed her bathroom door and locked it, sliding her heavy laundry basket in front of it for good measure. Lucy curled up in the bath, cocooning herself in her blankets, and wished that morning would come sooner. Lucy drifted off to sleep to the gentle banging on her door, and the eerie spine-tingling sounds of nails scraped on metal.

The next morning, Lucy awoke, her heart pounding in fear. She'd dreamed that the 'things' had broken into her room, and had her cornered. But then a large figure burst into the room and made the 'things' disappear in a blinding flash of golden light. Before Lucy could see who the man was, she was jerked back into reality as she woke up. The banging on the door had stopped, but it took Lucy almost an hour to gather the courage the open the food hatch. She slid it slowly, inch by inch. Once she had opened it fully, she leaned down to gaze out of the small opening – and screamed. A decomposing face stared back at her – rotting flesh sending swirls of vile odour into her room, jaundiced eyes open wide and a mouth of rotting teeth. Lucy scrambled back from the door, screaming at the top of her lungs. After a moment, Lucy stopped and stared fearfully at the 'thing'. It had not moved since had seen it, not even a twitch. Last night, the 'things' had reacted almost immediately to her quiet gasp, but this 'thing' had not reacted even when she was screaming shrilly. Lucy sat for a while, staring at the 'thing'. She even threw a spoon at its head, but it made no movements. Lucy steeled herself and moved closer to the food hatch. She stared around outside her door as far as she was able, but all she could see was decomposing flesh. She slid the food hatch shut and opened her door a crack, peering out. A sea of corpses surrounded her door, all pointing towards her door as if in their final moments they had tried to get to her. She slammed the door shut, her heart beating wildly, erratically. She tiptoed back to her bed to get the papers she'd left there last night, and hugged them tightly to her body. Lucy flung her door open, and quickly scanned the area for any sign of movement. While nothing moved, Lucy felt secure enough to dance her way across the corpse-strewn area. Every now and then, Lucy felt the bile rising in her throat as she stepped on a stray piece of flesh, the slimy feel soaking its way through her thin shoes to her foot.

Lucy made her way to the messy office without any trouble, although she did have to stop twice to expel the contents of her stomach. The stairs without lights gave her goosebumps, but Lucy ignored them and rushed up to the now-clean office. When she arrived, Laxus was nowhere to be found. She dumped the papers on the floor beside the stacked desk and headed to the kitchen to make breakfast for herself and Laxus. It took a while for Lucy to figure out how to use the state-of-the-art cooking machines, but she eventually figured it out through trial and error. Presently, the pleasant odour of bacon and eggs flooded the room. Lucy had just turned the kettle on to make coffee for herself when she spotted a decayed arm across the room, close to the bread-making machines. Lucy stumbled back and slipped on the floor. She shrieked as she hit her head hard on the cupboard. A loud clanging from across the room and she opened her mouth to scream again, but her cries were halted by the sight of Laxus. He emerged from behind the bread machines rubbing his head and wincing in pain. Lucy stood up shakily and stared at Laxus in confusion. "What on earth are you doing hiding by the machines?" Laxus scowled at her and grumbled, "I was sleeping by the machines, and then some _extremely irritating pest_ screamed and woke me up. I hit my head on the damn generator." Lucy cocked her head and stared at him. "Why… do you sleep there? There are tons of beds downstairs."

Laxus grinned sadistically and said, "There may be beds downstairs, but there are also those undead corpses. I ain't sleeping anywhere near those things." Lucy strode up to him and slapped him hard across the face. "Why would you leave me down there with them? How could you do that to me? What the hell is wrong with you?" Lucy shrieked at Laxus, glaring at him. Laxus' face darkened and he took a step closer to Lucy. "Listen, Blondie, if I had just told you that there were goddamn corpses that come alive every night, would you have believed me? You had to see for yourself." Lucy glared at him a moment longer before turning on her heel and walking to their breakfast. She snatched up her plate and hurried out of the room, heading back to the office. Laxus followed her soon after. As he entered the room, Lucy set her plate down on the floor beside her.

"I think you need to be honest with me, Laxus. Now."

**-x-**

**I… didn't really like this chapter, actually. I'm glad I finally got to the main plot bunny but I wish I had been able to write it all more convincingly. Ah well, can't be perfect. ^~^ **

**Anyway, please review or PM, 'cos I really like hearing from everyone ^~^**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ohayo! Sorry for the long delay between updates – we're in the process of writing our final exams at school and the first one is tomorrow and I haven't started studying, but oh well! At least I'm caught up on Fairy Tail. xD**

"I think you need to be honest with me, Laxus. Now."

Laxus rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He dumped his plate of food next to Lucy's and sat elegantly on the floor. His motions were smooth, fluid and elegant – he was unworried, unconcerned and apparently uninterested in the conversation that Lucy had planned for him. He delicately sliced a chunk of bacon and placed it into his mouth, raising his eyebrows at Lucy. She glared harder at him before beginning her interrogation.

"Why didn't you tell me about those things? What if I hadn't locked my door last night?" She snapped accusingly, furrowing her eyebrows at him. Laxus swallowed the bit of bacon (which was a little too crispy for his liking) and took a brief moment to consider her question. "I've already told you, Blondie. You wouldn't have believed me if I'd just told you that the first floor is run over by zombies. You'd have tried to observe them, you'd have been caught and I would have been alone in this god-forsaken hospital. Simply put, if you hadn't locked your door last, you'd have been the main course in the First Floor Banquet." Lucy nibbled her lower lip, and Laxus found himself staring at it. It was… amusing, how she had been so worried about zombies eating her and here she was, eating herself. Laxus snorted at this random thought and turned his attention to the food in front of him. As Lucy chewed her lip and debated which question to ask next, Laxus devoured the rest of his food. As he put his plate back on the floor, knife and fork placed neatly beside each other, Lucy spoke up. "Do you mean that those things eat people?" She wrinkled her nose and looked queasy for a minute. Laxus shrugged and leaned back on the floor, folding his arms behind his head to act as a cushion. "I wouldn't say 'eat'. That's too mild. They rip, shred, slurp, gobble, devour. Whichever suits your fancy. Once they find you, you have every likelihood of ending up in their stomachs." Lucy turned her back for a moment with her hand in front of her mouth, and Laxus got the impression that she was trying to fight nausea away. He felt a brief flash of guilt, but pushed it away.

Lucy crawled to where Laxus lay and sat beside him, staring at his chiselled face and golden hair. She frowned down at him and asked, "So why are they only down there? Why are there none up here?" Laxus closed his eyes and spoke in a relaxed tone. "After I escaped from my room, I worked out pretty quickly that they're useless during the day. They don't die, but they're paralysed and can't attack you. I waited till one morning after they'd all dropped, and moved them from this floor to the first. That was before I knew you were there, of course." Lucy pondered this new information, and realised that the noises she'd heard outside her room at night were definitely those creatures. "Okay, so what are they? How did they get like that?" Laxus' gaze became shifty and mysterious, and he pulled his eyes away from her face quickly. "Told you already, Blondie. They're zombies. Dead people brought back to life. I have no idea how it happened in this hospital, though." He waited for her to fire off another question, but turned to look at her when none came. She sat with her arms folded expectantly across her well-endowed chest, an eyebrow raised sceptically. Laxus rolled his eyes and decided to just tell her the truth – at least he'd find answers sooner. Hopefully.

"Alright, fine! Stop looking at me like that, Blondie." He snapped. "When I first came up to this floor, there were files and shit everywhere. Obviously, I read those files. They said something about a machine that can reanimate the magic in a person's body once they've died. Something about a Mana Algorithm. I only have half the file though – up to page 16 and after page 84 are missing. I was going to look for them yesterday but you kind of put a stop to that plan." Lucy's face brightened and she scurried over to where she'd left her bag of papers from her room. "I have up to page 16, and from page 85 to 100." She exclaimed excitedly. "I read them last night but all they told me was that I had to refer to pages 17-84 for reference. It was pretty useless." Lucy scratched her head sheepishly and handed the pages into Laxus' outstretched hand. He frowned and started reading the pages, his eyes scanning the pages almost as quickly as Lucy's had. Wordlessly, Laxus stood up and strode to the desk, where he retrieved a thick sheaf of pages, which he handed to Lucy. She took them eagerly, and they both started reading the booklet. They sat in relative silence for over an hour, the only disturbances being short enquiries on information in the pages. "Hey, Laxus. What does this do?" "Blondie, tell me what this word means" and so on. Laxus appeared to have in-depth knowledge on all things mechanical – he was able to decipher the complex formulas that Lucy had been unable to make heads or tails of the previous night. The further he read, the deeper his scowl grew. He started muttering to himself about "idiot doctors" and "playing God", which concerned Lucy. She hadn't identified anything in the pages that would provoke such a reaction. Had she perhaps missed a page? Laxus finally reached the last page of the now-complete booklet and tossed the pages angrily between Lucy and himself. He was deep in thought, so Lucy took the opportunity his distraction provided and hurried to the kitchen to make tea. Upon her return with two cups of tea, she was astonished to find Laxus scribbling on a wall in the study. He'd found a thick black marker pen in one of the drawers of the desk and had started writing formulas, equations and mindmaps on the far wall of the study. Lucy stared in wonder as he splashed complicated variables and symbols haphazardly onto the wall. Laxus stopped only to drink his tea, but quickly returned to the wall. Lucy, content to sit and watch him, lay down on the floor and tried to make sense of the scrawling on the wall. Before she knew it, her eyes had drifted shut, her breathing had evened out and she had slipped into a restless sleep.

**-x-**

5 year old Lucy wandered the halls of her house desolately. Her bottom still twinged from the hiding her father had given her the previous night. The empty stretch of corridor continued for a long time, expensive decorations brightening the stunningly ugly beige walls. A soft red rug spread out underneath Lucy's feet. A noise from down the corridor – Lucy hurried to an alcove and hid behind a large golden pot. She peeked out from behind the pot, desperate to see who had made the noise but too scared to confront the person. The hairs on the back of her neck raised, and her flesh broke out into prickly goosebumps. Lucy felt the strangest feeling: as if someone were watching her too. She backed away from the vase and her heart stopped as she bumped into someone – a rather large someone. She turned slowly, her heart thudding in fear. Lucy breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that she had bumped into Capricorn, their butler. His fluffy white goat face comforted Lucy, and she giggled to see him cramped up in the tiny space with her. He silently drew her into his arms and stepped out of the alcove. "Lucy-sama, you should be in your dancing lessons. I will escort you to the ballroom at once." Lucy pouted at Capricorn and fluttered her eyelashes, acting as cute as she possibly could. "But Capricorn, my legs are tired and it's so far to the ballroom…" Capricorn smiled gently at the young heiress – she was so much like his beloved master Layla. Layla lay rotting in a hospital, her own magic sapping the strength from her body. Lucy had been told that her mother had died, to spare her the pain of seeing her mother weak and vulnerable. In everything Lucy did, Capricorn saw Layla. He picked the gleeful child up and placed her gently onto his shoulders, ensuring that she did not hurt herself on his sharp horns. He strode briskly down the corridor with Lucy, eventually falling prey to her infectious giggles. Capricorn ran and jumped and skipped, Lucy screaming her head off in joy. Both were oblivious to the dark eyes, glaring out at them from an alcove.

Lucy and Capricorn ran to the dance lesson, both with grins on their faces. As they burst out of the long corridor, they were both laughing and chattering about silly things. Capricorn came to an abrupt halt as he spotted Jude and Mei standing stiffly on the marble staircase. He lifted Lucy off of his shoulders and stood her up in front of him, his hands resting protectively on her slender shoulders. "Mr Heartfilia-sama, I was just retrieving Lucy-sama for her dancing lessons in the ballroom. I forgot to warn her this morning that she had dancing, and as such it is my fault that she is late." Capricorn spoke swiftly and seriously, no hint of the truth betrayed in his steady voice. Jude frowned at them from behind his folded arms. He stalked forwards and grabbed Lucy roughly by the arm, dragging her away from the protective butler. As he dragged her to the ballroom, Capricorn could hear Jude muttering about "rude children" and "disrespect for the position of an heiress". Capricorn stared sadly after them, his heart breaking at Lucy's cries of pain and heartbreak. A dark aura flooded the room the minute Jude and Lucy had left it. A powerful wave of dark magic swept over Capricorn, yet he stood his ground and glared at the source of the power – Mei. He took a step forward and spoke though gritted teeth: "Leave Lucy-sama alone. You are not Mei Nikko, and you do not deserve to be in this house. You do not deserve to see that beautiful girl. Leave her alone, witch, or I will be forced to take care of you." Mei's face split into an unnaturally wide grin, the corners of her mouth splitting. She laughed a high-pitched cackle, and grinned at Capricorn with wide eyes. "Finally, someone smart enough to see that I am but an illusion of the real Mei Nikko!" She clapped her fists together and released a bolt of dark energy straight at Capricorn's heart, but he deflected it with a silvery burst of light. Suddenly, a sharp cry of agony travelled through the room. Capricorn's head whipped around to identify the location of the single girl capable of making a noise like that. He surrounded Mei with silvery particles of light, distracting her long enough to sprint for the doors through which Jude and Lucy had passed. He used his keen sense of hearing to find the spare bedroom that Jude had forced Lucy into. Crashing through the thick wooden door, he was horrified at the sight that met his eyes. Young Lucy crouched on the floor in a quivery ball of fear and desperation; Jude stood over her, his fists bruised and bloody; Lucy's face, bleeding from the corner of her mouth. Capricorn tackled Jude from behind and knocked him out with a single fist to the temple. Capricorn gathered the tiny bundle of fear into his arms and ran with her to the infirmary room.

As Capricorn disinfected the young girl's wounds and rubbed anti-inflammatory salve onto her multiple other injuries, Lucy sobbed. She mumbled the whole story to Capricorn, explaining that her dad had thought she had been rude to Mei when she hadn't been. Lucy's repeated denials of guilt had infuriated the highly-strung business man, who turned his fists on the innocent angel in front of him. The door to the infirmary slammed open, and young Lucy screamed—

**-x-**

Lucy bolted upright, shrieking in fear. After a moment of silence, she glanced around the room and saw Laxus looking at her in concern. She put a hand to her forehead to find it drenched in sweat, and her hands were shaking violently. She dissolved into tears. Laxus moved from his position against the other wall to where Lucy sat shivering, and hesitated before putting his hand on her shoulder. He spoke gruffly, unsure of how to deal with crying females. "C'mon, Blondie. Let's go make some tea and you can tell me about it. If you want to, I guess." Lucy nodded and, sniffing and snivelling, stood up. She walked unsteadily to the kitchen and activated a heating lacrima to boil water. Lucy leaned against a counter and slid to the floor. While the water heated, Lucy explained every dream she could remember about the man named Jude and the woman accompanying him, Mei Nikko. She explained the fear, the pain, and the desperation to please her father and Mei. "But it can't be real, right? I mean, a goat-man who can talk? And a father who hates me? It's ridiculous!" Lucy laughed uneasily, desperately trying to convince herself that the dream was nothing more than a figment of her scared, lonely imagination. Laxus frowned at her, eyeing her tense shoulders, terrified face and vulnerable body. He hoisted her up by her upper arms, shoved the tea he'd made and a packet of biscuits into her hands and motioned for her to follow him back to the study. She did so, stopping just inside the door. He turned and saw her, then said, "Well, come on. Put that stuff on the desk, then come here. I'm going to explain what I've found out so you can help me research." Lucy's eyes brightened, ever eager to gain more knowledge. She scurried over to him and searched the wall for the beginning of what she assumed was some system of logic. Laxus steered her over to a point in the middle of the wall and informed her that this was the start of his discovery. They worked until night, analysing the formulas to decipher the Mana-machine. As it drew closer to late night, Lucy could barely stifle her yawns. "So this… machine-thingy, it uses 'magic' to provide a spark to the corpse, thereby animating it and frying its brain simultaneously?" Lucy muttered, a frown creasing her forehead. "It says magic, but I don't know if they mean some sort of particle found in the air, or the non-existent magic we read about in fairy tales." Laxus replied gruffly. Lucy scanned the machine's booklet again and took note of the repeated mentions of 'magic'. "It definitely says magic, but we already know magic can't exist. But then, this formula here…" Lucy gestured to an equation on the wall, "… wouldn't make sense unless there were some other force driving the machine." Laxus made a growling noise deep in his chest, and Lucy blushed, although she didn't know why. Laxus rubbed his bloodshot eyes and mumbled, "We can carry on tomorrow. Let's just go to sleep now." As Laxus headed towards the door, Lucy hesitated, unsure where to go. Laxus turned to look at her. "What now, Blondie?" Lucy shook her head slowly and said, "It's too late for me to go downstairs to my bed. I guess I'll just crash here." Laxus looked deep in thought for in a minute before saying, "You can come sleep in the kitchen with me. I have a few extra blankets and loads of space." She smiled gratefully and followed Laxus to the spot behind the bread-making machines. Piles of blankets and pillows, stacked invitingly against each other, beckoned Lucy forward. She collapsed onto the squishy pile and sighed in contentment. Laxus kneeled down and poked Lucy's hip to get her to move from her position in the bed. As Lucy rolled over to the very edge of the pile, he picked up a heavy duvet and tossed it over her limp body. Laxus pulled his shoes off and nestled into the blankets and pillows surrounding. Mere seconds before he drifted off into sleep, a thought slipped through his mind: "She smells nice…"

**-x-**

Laxus awoke early the next morning, sweating and far too hot. Before he opened his eyes, he shifted around and found himself unable to move. Cracking a single stormy blue eye open, he was shocked to note the lithe body curled around him. Lucy's arm was draped around his waist, her leg cushioned between his legs. Laxus chanced a glance downwards, but had to look away immediately. Lucy had stripped to her t-shirt and underwear, and the t-shirt had ridden up, exposing a pair of long, smooth legs, a pert bottom clad in lacy black panties and a slim waist. Laxus could feel Lucy's breasts pressing against him, and he gulped nervously. An all-too-familiar feeling was stirring below his hips, and he prayed that Lucy wouldn't wake up until he'd had a chance to extract himself from her embrace and… get rid of the problem. Lucy shifted in her sleep, and Laxus had to bite back a groan as her leg brushed a rather sensitive part of his anatomy. A rattling groan, combined with a clattering in the drawers, drew Laxus' attention away. Slowly pushing Lucy's arm and leg away, Laxus leopard-crawled forwards until he could see underneath the breadmaker. What he saw did not impress him at all. A creature, moving feebly around the kitchen, was sniffing the air around where Lucy had collapsed the previous day. The flesh was melting from the face of this corpse, dropping in jelly-like blobs onto the smooth tiles and tattered lab coat it was wearing. It moved unsteadily, as if unused to walking, but it was drawing closer and closer to the area where they had innocently slumbered. Laxus grabbed a heavy light lacrima from next to his makeshift bed and stood as silently as he could.

He stalked forward and peered around the edge of the breadmaker. The zombie was almost at the breadmaker now, but moving slower than before. Laxus glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall: 5:58 AM. The sun hadn't quite risen yet – as it was winter, the sun would only rise in around 10 minutes. Laxus threw one of his shoes over the zombie's head, wincing at the loud clatter it made against the metal dishwasher. The noise, however, distracted the zombie long enough for him to sneak behind the zombie and bring the lacrima smashing down onto its skull. The skull split apart with a sickening crack, and the zombie crumpled onto the ground leaking brain matter and clotting blood. Laxus perused the kitchen for signs of any more zombies and, upon finding none, ran to the door. Peering outside into the corridor, Laxus spotted several more zombies ambling slowly around. As the sun rose high enough to flood the kitchen with its warm light, the zombies started crumbling onto the ground. They twitched once, twice, before finally laying still. Laxus heard a sound behind him and he whirled, the lacrima ready in his hand to smash a zombie. He flinched as he realised it was just Lucy, and he lost his grip on the heavy sphere. They both watched silently as the glass accelerated towards the ground. A tinkling, musical sound as the ball smashed against the floor. A moment of shock when Laxus realised that the lights he'd assumed worked by battery power, contained no batteries. Lucy stared up uncertainly at Laxus. His eyes had gone almost comically wide, but he looked like he was having an epiphany. He raised his head to look at her. His next words made Lucy feel as if she had been dunked in a tank of ice-water.

"Magic… It's all magic. It's all real."

**-x-**

**So, that's that! Not bad for an afternoon of work, if I do say so myself. Which I do. As always, please review or drop me a PM **** I love hearing all the feedback from you guys, not to mention the warm fuzzy feelings I get when you tell me you like it. **

**Bubbles xx **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everybody!**

**I know it's been a while since my last update and I'm not even going to try and justify why it's been so long. Life happened. xD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any recognizable characters, objects or locations from the world of Fairy Tail**

"Magic… It's all magic. It's all real."

Lucy stared at Laxus, aghast, her mind trying to comprehend his statement. Magic? She had read books about magic in the past, but logically, Lucy knew that they were just fairy tales, fanciful scrawlings which enticed the reader into a world entirely separate from reality, a world where anything is possible. Golden keys that call down spirits from the evening skies, manipulation of the elements, manipulation of time and space… it was impossible to believe that anything could exist that would make these things possible.

They both stared silently at the shattered crystal, both equally as unnerved and excited by the prospects the new discovery offered them. On the one hand, magic could be real, and their search for a way out of the hospital would be infinitely easier. On the other hand, though, they had discovered a form of technology they knew nothing about, which would make escape infinitely harder.

Lucy's gaze drifted to the fallen zombie, and she asked the first question that popped into her head: "How did they get up here?"

Laxus narrowed his eyes and stalked out of the room, heading for the stairway leading to the lower levels. The door gaped open, offering them an eyeful of the multitudes of corpses that had collapsed on the stairs, gruesomely contorted to appear as though crawling up the stairs to the humans waiting unsuspectingly above. Laxus scowled and rounded on Lucy, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"When you came back upstairs yesterday, did you remember to close the doors behind you and bolt them?"

Lucy frowned as she struggled to remember the finer details of the previous day. When she'd come upstairs, she'd had her hands full of papers and things from her room. She remembered trying to close the door with her foot, but had given up and resolved to return once her hands were empty. But then she had started reading with Laxus and... she'd forgotten. Her hands flew to her mouth and her eyes widened, and she looked apologetically at Laxus.

"I'm so sorry… I thought I'd remembered to close the doors but I forgot to come back and do it. I'm sorry, Laxus."

Laxus glared at Lucy and threw his hands in the air, forming an imposing figure against the pitch black of the corpse-filled stairwell. He turned and stormed down the stairs, muttering to himself about stupid women who want to get him killed. Lucy followed hesitantly, unsure if her presence would be refused. Laxus ignored her and started dragging the corpses by their feet. Sickening thuds echoed in the small space as the heads whacked each stair, juicy crunches and squishes. Fighting back the nausea, Lucy mimicked Laxus and grabbed a pair of feet from the bottom of the stairs.

They worked in dead silence, the only sounds being the growls from the corpses when she ventured too close to their mouths, and the growls from Laxus when she tried to say something. Lucy did her best to ignore the jaundiced eyes rolling in gaping eye sockets, but by the time the final corpse had been shoved into one of the abandoned rooms, Lucy was feeling mildly ill. She followed Laxus timidly back to the stairwell, where he stood and watched her fasten every bolt on the pair of doors. He narrowed his eyes at her and stalked off in the general direction of the kitchen, his stomach growling angrily.

Lucy hung her head and wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes. She had let down the only other human in this hospital, and now he was so mad that he wouldn't talk to her. She would even prefer the shouting and screaming instead of the furious cloud of tension and anger surrounding him. Lucy's arms folded cautiously around her stomach and she decided against going to the kitchen for food. She would give Laxus his space and hopefully, he would start to forgive her.

**-x-**

That stupid, infuriating blonde bimbo! She had appeared so intelligent yesterday, keeping up with his explanations and asking only relevant questions about the formulae he'd scribbled on the wall, but it appeared she was nothing more than some dumb blonde after all. How could she leave the door open?! She knew what those things wanted to do and yet she had come straight upstairs to the kitchen, valuing food over security!

Laxus stomped around the kitchen, knocking lacrimas off the counters and tossing cutlery across the room. He hadn't felt this angry in months. The last time he'd wanted to kill someone this much was when doctor Shiki had stabbed a needle into Laxus' arm without warning, prompting Laxus to shove the doctor hard enough to give him a concussion. Laxus couldn't imagine doing something like that to Lucy, who looked as though she might break if he touched her, but he definitely wanted to.

A sharp grumble interrupted Laxus' violent thoughts, and he glared at his stomach. First, he would find food, and then he would go and figure out a way to undo the damage that the idot doctors had done by playing God.

Scarcely realising it, he set out two trays of food and drinks. Rolling his eyes at himself, Laxus decided to go in search of Lucy, who was undoubtedly as hungry as he was by now. Walking along the passage to each room he had entered with Lucy, Laxus felt the anger dissolving. She hadn't really caused much harm – it could have been a lot worse. He had been alert enough to detect the zombie before it had harmed them, and she had definitely learned her lesson. He had seen how pale she had become while moving corpses, had seen how much her hands shook as she fastened the bolts, and he had decided that he could, perhaps, forgive her.

Laxus grew more concerned with every empty room he entered – Lucy was in neither of the studies, the lounge, the staff rooms or the bathrooms. She had not gone back down the stairs – the bolts were still firmly in place – and the room she had chosen as her bedroom was empty. Laxus started walking faster down the passages to the only room he hadn't yet checked – the library. He burst through the door in a flurry of white cloth and clanging metal trays, startling the fragile girl curled up in the corner of the room.

Lucy jumped up and stood prepared to run, knees bent and heart pounding. She stared wide-eyed at Laxus, who stood breathing heavily in the doorway of the room. His face was pulled into an expression of concern, the emotion visible in his stormy eyes even from the distance Lucy was at. She dropped back into her chair with a hand over her heart, trying to calm herself down. Before she could blink, Laxus had shot across the room to stand in front of her. He placed the trays of food on the sleek steel coffee table before her, and stood with his arms crossed. He glared down at her, and she gazed timidly back at him. He sighed and unfolded his arm, reaching one hand over to flick Lucy roughly in her forehead.

"I didn't help you just so you could run off and die of starvation, Blondie." Laxus mumbled gruffly.

He narrowed his eyes, grabbed his tray and strode to the chair across from Lucy's. Lucy stared in surprise at him. Did this mean he was no longer angry at her? He had appeared concerned, and he had brought her a tray of food.

Lucy stared at Laxus as she ate her plate of food, lost in thought. Laxus jerked his head up and stared back at Lucy, but she didn't notice. Her head whirled with thoughts of what had happened, how she could fix it and how they could escape the hospital. Laxus dropped his tray quietly to the floor and folded his arms, his eyes boring into the glazed chocolate orbs of the blonde across from him. His eyes dropped momentarily lower to glance and the cleavage that was displayed so prominently to him, and he could feel an erection starting beneath his ivory hospital clothes. He grabbed one of the couch's cushions and stuffed it into his lap, hiding the growing bulge beneath hideous green and blue floral patterns.

Lucy stayed in her trance for a long time, barely blinking or breathing. It felt similar to the state she entered when she meditated, but it was different. Instead of her head clearing to be free from all thought, it was as though every thought she'd ever had was cramming into her brain to vie for attention. Memories – old, new and unfamiliar – pushed against her skull and bounced around her cranium.

Without warning, a plush mass of green and blue slammed into her face, startling her and breaking her trance. Lucy stared dumbfounded at Laxus, who was straining to keep his face straight. He frowned at her and barked, "Don't just zone out like that, Blondie."

Lucy's lips tugged into a smile and she giggled softly. She picked up the cushion he had thrown at her and stared at the hideous pattern – fleur-de-lis and floral intermingled with random splotches and blobs of contrasting colours. Waiting until Laxus' eyes were on the bookshelves around them, she launched the cushion through the air at him. It was a shot that would make a basketballer proud, and yet it made no contact. Laxus' hand whipped through the air and snatched the pillow from its collision course.

A menacing look on his face, Laxus stood slowly and stalked towards Lucy, the pillow held like a club in his fist. Lucy, understanding his intent, leaped from her chair and sprinted towards the door, laughter bubbling from her lips. As fast as she was, Laxus was faster. He caught up to her in mere seconds and smacked her across the bottom with the soft cushion. Lucy shrieked in surprise and changed her direction, ducking under Laxus' grabbing arms to snatch a cushion from a couch. She walloped Laxus hard across the chest with it and he grunted, rubbing his chest as though it had hurt.

Laxus pounced at Lucy and tackled her to the floor, twisting in the air so that she would land on top of him. Once she was on top of him, her hands shot to his ribs and started tickling him mercilessly. Laxus held out as long as he could, refused to make a sound until the tears streamed from his eyes, but soon could hold the laughter in no longer. He roared with laughter, grabbing at Lucy's hands in an effort to stop her. He twisted again so that he was on top of her, holding her hands down above her head with a single large fist. With his other hand, he inflicted the same torture she had inflicted on him. Lucy screamed and struggled, but it was in vain, for Laxus was so heavy that she couldn't budge him. Lucy's legs parted and spread to either side of Laxus' muscular torso, pushing against him to try and get him off of her.

One brief bump of Laxus' growing erection between her spread legs was all it took to change the atmosphere of the moment. In an instant, the laughter had vanished from the pair. Lucy had stopped squirming, and rosy pink flooded Laxus' cheeks. He let go of her hands and made as if to stand up, but Lucy placed an arm around his shoulders and stopped him.

"Laxus, I… We're both alone and… I've been alone for so long… please…" She breathed gustily into his ear.

Laxus pulled away slightly, his stormy eyes gazing deeply into the wide, innocent chocolate ones below him. He felt his erection stir against her stomach and he gulped, already thinking of the possible ramifications of their actions. On the one hand, he wouldn't be walking around while hornier than a teenager. But on the other, it would change the dynamics of the relationship. Laxus knew, from his conquests among the hospital nurses, that once a physical aspect had been introduced, all intellectual aspects disappeared. He couldn't imagine Lucy as a real dumb blonde, content to do anything he asked simply because he'd slept with her a few times. Conflicting thoughts flew through his brain and he frowned, unsure what to do.

In the end, it was Lucy that decided for him. Her nimble fingers stroked down his chest and moved to the bindings holding his pants closed. A swift tug and his erection was breaking free, covered quickly by her warm hand. Lucy's lips met Laxus', and all thoughts of resistance were lost as he sunk back to the floor, her lithe body writhing below him.

**-x-**

**I started this chapter totally unsure where it was going, but it turned into a bit of a filler chapter with somewhat more important stuff towards the end. I realise it may seem a bit sudden (them sleeping together only 5 chapters in, EGAD!) but I was trying to make it seem less for emotional reasons and more for the physical side because emotions haven't quite started developing. **

**Let me know how it was! I'd also love any constructive criticism, so anybody who feels like typing an essay of the 'good, bad and ugly', please feel free to tell me in a review/PM :D :P**

**Bubbles xx**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi guys! **

**Once again, sorry for the long wait! Varsity has been hectic these last few months. This chapter was weird to write, kind of like a burst of inspiration that just wouldn't stop coming.**

It was the sound that bothered her. Or rather, the lack of sound. Under any other circumstances, it would have been peaceful, but now the silence seemed cold, deafening. The heavy duvet weighed down on her chest, constricting her breathing, pinning her arms to her side. It was too hot. The heat smothered her cries of desperation as she fought against the bonds tying her to the bed. The bed pulsed, once, twice, then disappeared beneath her. She fell and as she fell, flames surrounded her and coursed along her skin, licking their way up her delicate skin. It hurts… It hurts…

NO!

**-x-**

Lucy shot up, heart thudding in staccato beats, fighting to free itself from the iron bonds of her skin. A sheen of sweat glimmered on Lucy's forehead, dripping slowly down the side of her face. Lucy glanced wildly around, trying to see what could have made her wake up so violently; all she spied was a pair of naked legs… leading to a well-toned chest… a shock of blonde hair… stormy eyes glaring at her from the floor.

"Blondie, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Laxus frowned up at her. His tousled hair draped sexily over his eyes, his head propped on a single muscular arm. Lucy gulped and glanced around the library again. Their books were scattered around the room, scientific documents covering the tables and almost every available surface. They really ought to clean this up to make their organisation easier.

Lucy was standing up, looking for her clothes, when the screaming started. It was muffled, and yet she could hear it as clearly as if it were in the room with her. A man's guttural roar was echoing up the bolted staircase entrance, growing more and more desperate with each breath. Clad only in her bra and panties, Lucy glanced at Laxus and ran for the door, flinging it wide, skidding on discarded notes and papers. Ignoring Laxus' hollers for her to stop, she ran straight to the bolted door. She cursed her trembling fingers as she tried to open each bolt, fumbling desperately with the stiff metal. She flung the door open and sprinted through the darkness to the lower floor, hesitating only a moment before jerking the door open.

The vile stench of rot assailed her nose as she stumbled through the door. It was so much worse than it had been two days ago. The slime from decomposed corpses lined the floor as Lucy slipped and skidded her way towards the weakening screams. She was dimly aware of Laxus' hulking body running after her, but her sole concern was finding the owner of those horrific sounds and helping them. A door on her left had been wrenched off of its hinges, and its cracked carcass tossed violently against the opposite wall. Lucy followed the trails of fresher blood towards a cell on the far eastern side of the building. A symphony of rasping growls reached her ears. Ripping and tearing accompanied the brutal sounds of blood splattering against solid surfaces.

Lucy peeked into the room, her heart thudding wildly in her chest. She dared not make a sound, though she could feel hysterical shrieks building in her throat. In the middle of the cell towered a small pyramid of people. Not quite people… not quite human. The rotting corpses pushed against each other, straining to reach a hole in the ceiling. The jagged hole, Lucy could only think, must have been created by a human, although she could not remember seeing it when she had checked this side of the hospital. Inside the hole, barely out of reach of the snatching hands, Lucy spied an enraged face streaked with tears; a face partly covered by a shock of pink hair.

Peering lower, Lucy noticed that the base of the pyramid was zombies crouched over a disembowelled body, one bloody hand still twitching. The guttural moans emanating from the corpses was almost enough to make Lucy sick; bile rising into her throat, she turned away from the door and huddled into Laxus' body, wishing it would end, hating herself for wishing death on another human being. As the last of the moans faded and all that could be heard was melted corpse upon melted corpse, fighting their way to the top, Lucy peeked in again.

He had his eyes shut tightly, tears streaming down his gaunt cheeks, his lip caught so tightly between his teeth that blood dribbled down his chin. His eyes opened – they shone with fury and defiance, darting around the cell, eyeing the corpses below him and finally shooting to the door, his only chance of escape. His eyes widened as he spotted Lucy's horrified face. Lucy frantically put a finger to her lips, urging him to be silent, praying desperately that she would see a way to free him from certain death.

A spark of inspiration hit her, and she signalled to the pink-haired boy to wait and stay silent. He gave a grim nod just before she turned back to Laxus. Lucy stared up at him with tearful, pleading eyes, her face pale.

"Laxus, help me. He's the only other one we've seen alive."

Laxus glared down at her, arms folded against his chest. Save this whelp, who managed to get himself trapped in such a hopeless situation? Risk his life to save this incompetent brat with stupid hair? But, gazing down at Lucy's pleading face, he felt his heart skip a beat. This brat might know more than Laxus, he had been out with the corpses longer than either Laxus or Lucy had. Laxus sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and frowned.

"For God's sake, Blondie, if we die, I'll come back just to kill you."

Laxus gripped Lucy by her upper arms tightly and whispered gruffly, "Run to the stairwell. Don't wait for me. I'll see you later."

Before Lucy could protest, Laxus had turned her around and shoved her hard. She stumbled and as she turned around to look at him, he yelled, "RUN!"

Lucy ran as she'd never run before. Her muscles screamed out in agony, her head was filled with the chorus of corpses groaning, her heart pumping blood to all of her extremities. The adrenaline was electrifying, pushing her forward, even as she sobbed, even as she thought she'd never see anyone alive again.

**-x-**

The sun had sunk slowly below the horizon, beyond the empty wasteland that was all Lucy could see from the library windows. It was dark outside, the stars twinkling so faintly that they hardly appeared to be there at all. Lucy distracted herself from the pain gnawing at her heart by trying to spot the constellations; all she could see was Leo.

"Leo, Leo… why did I send Laxus out to die?"

The constellation glowed brighter, twinkling at Lucy, pulsing softly. Rivulets of tears worked their way down Lucy's cheeks. Why had she just run out like that? It had been so stupid. And to leave Laxus there with no help or support, to just leave him to die with those rotting creatures… Lucy had never felt shame such as she was feeling at that very moment. Such a coward…

Just then, a steady knocking began on the stairwell door. Slow, steady, continuous. Lucy stood shakily and worked her way to the bolted door, praying as she'd never prayed before. She stood, ready to unlock the door, but caution prevented her from moving her fingers to slide open the bolts.

"H-hello? Who is it?"

A loud, exasperated sigh reached her ears from the other side of the door: a sigh that Lucy knew all too well. She eagerly wrenched the bolts open and yanked the door, her face lighting up as she saw Laxus' grouchy face. Behind him stood the pink-haired man, face frozen in an expression of confusion and mild hope. Lucy stood aside, beaming at the two men. They followed her silently back to the library which she had just that afternoon tidied, in a futile effort to distract herself.

Laxus threw himself into an armchair, folded his arms and glared at Lucy. Lucy fluttered her eyelashes, gave him a small smile and mouthed, "Thank you". The pink-haired man hovered uncertainly in the doorway, looking as if he wanted to either lie down and pass out, or run away as quickly as he could. Lucy beckoned him over with a nod of her head, smiling slightly at his nervousness. As soon as he reached where she was standing, she stuck out her hand and introduced herself in a bubbly voice.

"Hi! I'm Lucy. I'm so glad we found you, it's nice to see another human face in this place. Well, a human face that isn't always grouchy or trying to eat you, anyway."

Lucy threw a sly glance at Laxus, her lips perking up as his scowl deepened. The pink-haired man scratched his head with a bashful smile, then gently grasped her hand in his.

"I'm Natsu. Listen, thank you for sending him to save me. Thanks for not leaving me alone. I mean, I could have got out of there alone but my friend… Elfman… he was hurt and I couldn't leave him. Next thing I knew, those things were everywhere."

Natsu trailed off as his eyes welled up. Lucy's heart broke for the poor man, who'd had to watch his friend be devoured alive, and then left him. She gripped his hand tightly and led him out towards the kitchen, babbling about all the food that was in there. Laxus watched them leave with a murderous expression. Why was Blondie holding hands with that brat? She just met him. Yeah, the brat was scared and upset, and had every reason to be, but she didn't need to hold his hand. Her hands could be busy with better things… Laxus shook his head, willing the perverted images to dissipate. Laxus stood and stretched, every vertebra in his spine cracking as he reached his hands toward the ceiling. Better to go and keep an eye on those two… next thing she'd be making out with him on Laxus' bed.

The kitchen was brightly lit, and Lucy and Natsu were jabbering away as if they'd known each other all their lives. Plates of hot dinner sat nearly untouched in front of them, glasses of juice half-empty to their side. Laxus stalked to the two and grabbed Blondie's plate. Ignoring her objections, he turned to Natsu and spoke gruffly, asserting his dominance.

"You're sleeping next door, Lucy and I are staying here. Keep that door bolted. Try anything funny and I will rip you apart."

Defiance danced in Natsu's eyes, but he bit his tongue, spat out an acknowledgement and stalked off next door, leaving Lucy gazing distraught after him. Lucy turned to face Laxus, hands on hips, face burning with irritation.

"Why do you have to be such a jerk, Laxus? We were just getting to know one another!"

Laxus dumped the plate of food unceremoniously on the table, grabbed Lucy around the waist and pulled her to him, pressing his groin against hers.

"Don't screw with me, Blondie. I want you, and I want you now. I know you want me too. Are you gonna come with me to bed or are you gonna stay up all night talking to that brat?"

Lucy's eyes flared, but she knew he knew what she'd say. She yanked his head down to hers, twining her fingers in his shaggy blonde locks, assaulting his mouth just as violently as he was attacking hers. He reached down and lifted her, wrapping her legs around his waist, feeling her heat blaring against his covered erection. He stumbled over to the makeshift bed, lay her down on it and began peeling her minimal layers of clothing off. When she lay covered only by her bra and panties, he spoke.

"If you ever leave my sight wearing nothing but underwear again, Blondie, I will tie you to this machine and leave you here. That pink-haired brat doesn't get to see you in your underwear again. Understand?"

Too overcome by the pleasure his hands on her chest were making her feel, she could only nod as he yanked her panties down and her bra away from her well-endowed chest. He traced a finger delicately down the side of one breast, down over her navel, further towards where she was aching for him to touch her. His hands cupped her breasts, his thumbs circling and flicking over her sensitive nipples, causing her to cry out in pleasure. Her moans grew in volume as his fingers dipped lower, an agonisingly pleasurable groan escaping her lips as he slipped inside.

He curled his fingers _just right,_ and she panted with ecstasy, gripping tightly onto the blankets. Her chest thrust towards the air and she felt as if her heart would fly right through her chest with how hard it was beating, and then he curled his fingers again and she was _flying flying flying –_

Coming down from her high, Lucy still felt the burning tingles on her body, everywhere he had touched her set alight by his rough caresses. Oh, but he was good. She eyed his erection straining viciously against the bindings of his pants ass he hovered over her, eyeing her delightfully naked, sweaty body. She reached up to his shoulder and shoved, rolling him over so that she could sit astride him. Trailing her fingers lazily down from his neck along his naked chest, she began to undo the bindings. Once he had sprung free, Lucy inched her way down his body, kissing and sucking as she went. Once she was face to face with his engorged member, she smiled seductively.

"Now, what can we do about this?"

**-x-**

6 year old Lucy danced along the hallways of her father's house, pretending to be a ballerina. She twirled on her tippy toes, leaped like a gazelle, her arms floating elegantly like feathers on the wind. Her heart soared, her spirit was free.

Mei stood at the end of the corridor, watching the insipid waif of a girl dance. The rage and envy churned within Mei's stomach as she glared at this little brat who, despite being everything an heiress should not be, still harboured all the love her father could give. No, Jude hardly demonstrated his love for his daughter, but it was there in every syllable of every sentence he spoke of her. The unerring pride in his voice when he spoke about her, or when his clients and acquaintances asked about her, was irritating beyond any irritation Mei had ever felt. This little brat had to poison her father against her, or the Heartfilia inheritance would fall not to Mei, but to Lucy. Lucky Lucy Heartfilia.

As Lucy reached the end of the hallway, a strange sensation came over her. Her arms and legs grew numb, and she could no longer feel them when they moved. Her brain was fogging over, becoming cloudy, and though Lucy struggled against the fading light, she soon succumbed to the darkness.

When she awoke, she was surrounded by a crowd of servants, including Capricorn. She sat up woozily, her head spinning, her limbs shaky.

"Wh-what happened? Why am I on the floor?"

Her timid voice brought relief to the servants, but they feared for her safety. They all stared horrified at the flight of stairs behind her, the stairs Jude was descending with an expression of such fury that the servants couldn't even bear to look at it. Lucy stared with tears in her eyes at her father, who had never looked so furious and violent.

"Dad? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Jude grabbed her upper arms, wrenched her around to face the giant family portrait on the wall behind her. Or rather, what was left of the portrait: the beautifully detailed artwork, the fine brush strokes of the greatest painter in Fiore, all wrecked. Ripped to shreds, hanging in tatters. Jude's face, Layla's face… destroyed. Below the gilded frame lay a single golden key… Capricorn's key.

"Lucy! Why would you destroy your mother's portrait in such a way? Have you no idea what this portrait cost?"

Jude roared at Lucy, shaking her violently so her head clacked back and forth. She wailed, begging him to stop, begging the servants to help her, but nobody could move, so frozen in shock were they. Only Capricorn stepped forward to help her. Clapping a fist down onto Jude's shoulder, he yanked the enraged man away and folded the sobbing Lucy into the protection of his arms. Staring stonily down at the man who called himself Lucy's father, Capricorn spoke.

"Jude-sama, use your reason. Lucy is far too short to reach the top of this portrait where the cuts start. It was not Lucy-sama who did such a heinous act – I believe it was your precious Mei-sama."

The other servants joined in their pleas for Jude to forgive Lucy, to stop hurting her and, for a moment, it appeared as though Jude would relent. Jude's eyes cleared of the red fog for the briefest of seconds, but a delicate touch on his shoulder and the dulcet tones of Mei forced him back into fury.

"Why, Mr Capricorn, are you saying I committed such a terrible crime? Poor, delicate, me, ripping that portrait with such hate and fury? No, my dear sir, I believe you are mistaken. I could never hurt my darling Jude in such a cruel manner."

Her sweet voice reached each of the servants, and they wondered why they had ever believed that such an angelic woman could possibly be responsible for the crimes they had accused her of. They turned slowly, menacingly, towards Capricorn and Lucy. Mei pointed a shaky finger at the pair, and wailed.

"Get her away from him! He's going to hurt her and I could never stand such a thing!"

The servants lunged as a single wave towards the pair. Capricorn did his best to protect and shelter Lucy, but she collapsed to the floor as the servants overpowered him. Her head smacked against the corner of the wall and for the second time that day, her vision faded.

**-x-**

Lucy shot up, shrieking. Her head throbbed, ached, her brain pounded against the confines of her skull. She whirled around, looking for… something. She couldn't remember what (or who?) it was that she sought, but futile searching only made her panic more. She ran from room to room on the upper floor, frantically searching, desperately hoping that she would find whatever it was.

She collapsed into a pile in the library, sobbing as though all the happiness had left her. She stared up, distraught, through the unshuttered windows. Leo's constellation once again caught her eye, and it seemed to glow even brighter than before, blinding white flashing at her eyes.

It hit Lucy. Like a bomb, the knowledge seemed to explode from inside her head. Clawing at her head to restrain the screams working their way up her throat, Lucy struggled to make sense of what her mind was screaming at her.

**-x-**

When Laxus entered the library some three hours later, he found her furiously scribbling on the papers they'd scattered in chaotic piles.

"Magic! Laxus, it's magic! That's what this whole place runs on, look! And there are keys, and the keys call the constellations, and that's what I can do! Laxus, look! I've got all the calculat-"

"Blondie, what the hell happened to you?"

Laxus interrupted her hysterical babbling with his abrupt question. He folded his arms and stared down at her. This was the most frazzled he'd seen her, and considering the horrors they faced in this hospital, that was saying something.

As he sat down to listen to the agitated blonde's frantic explanations, Laxus wondered, not for the first time, what the hell was happening in this hospital.

**Okay, pretty lame ending. Writer's inspiration petered out. xD**

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter (don't judge my inability to write proper smut!).**

**Please review and let me know what you thought, I really am loving hearing from you all **

**Bonus request: If anyone has any suggestions for how to write smut without it sounding as awkward, cliché and mechanical as I make it sound, I would really appreciate some advice. Help me in a review if you're brave, or PM if you'd rather it be a secret :P **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello guys! I'm sorry for the long break from writing, my brain and soul needed a break. But I'm all rested and relaxed, and ready to carry on writing about zombies and ghouls and ghosts, oh my!**

**Bubbles xx**

**-x—**

"It's magic, Laxus, don't you get it? This whole time we've been wondering what that missing component was from the machine designs, the power source! This is it!"

Lucy spoke animatedly to Laxus, waving and gesturing at every word. Her excitement was palpable, spreading around the bibliophile's paradise. She bounced over to the notes she'd scribbled and shoved them into Laxus' hands. He glanced down at the notes and read with a frown on his face, his grimace deepening with every page he discarded. Eventually, he reached the last page. As his hands tightened into fists, the fragile page of paper crumpled and tore, and dropped to the rest of the pages.

"Blondie… you've lost it. I get that you're upset to be stuck here, and something weird is going on with your dreams, but you can't just make shit up to 'magically' solve everything. We're stuck in this shithole and no amount of magic or whatever shit you come up with is gonna fix it."

"You said it yourself yesterday, Laxus! What's powering the machines? What caused those things downstairs? What's going on here if not magic?!"

Fire danced in Lucy's eyes as she stood her ground against the brute of a man standing before her. With her hands on her hips and her eyes blazing, she was almost as sexy to Laxus in that moment as she was the first morning he'd seen her.

"Blondie, that light must have worked with solar power or something. There's no such thing as magic. Now stop your mental shit and come join me in the bed. The way you're looking right now, I'd almost be able to forget this crazy stuff and fuck you hard."

**CRACK**

It took Laxus exactly 3 seconds to register the pain in his cheek, and another 5 seconds to launch himself at the door she'd stormed out of. He growled, flared his nostrils and took a whiff of the air. He could smell her delicate scent wafting through the air – it was so tangible he could almost taste it in the back of his throat. Whatever the hell that girl had sprayed on that morning, it was strong.

Laxus stormed through the corridors, following her heavy scent. Through the twists and turns of the corridors, Laxus traced her to the door that led down to the pit of hell itself. The open door mocked Laxus with its empty frame, its open bowels taunting him with the knowledge that she was in hell and he was chasing her there. He growled and moved quickly down the stairs, two at a time. He followed her scent until-

Blood. Fresh blood. The thought popped into his head faster than he was able to figure out how he knew. The air smelled of rust and salt, the tantalising infusion that forms the liquid life running through every human's veins. He followed the smell, his feet moving quicker and quicker with every room he walked into that didn't contain the perky blonde.

She was in the room they'd found Natsu in. Blood, gore and rotting body parts lined the floor she knelt down on. She was kneeling next to a shock of white hair – white, with streaks of crimson and scarlet. She was running her hands through the mass of bloodstained hair, her other hand resting delicately on the tanned cheek of the decapitated head. The head, all that remained of the corpse, bore an expression of utter horror. Tears slid smoothly down her cheeks, tracing tracks of silver through the faint layer of grime and blood she'd managed to acquire. Laxus took a step closer, then hesitated. Stopped in the doorway, he took a moment to scan the room.

A pile of corpses lay just below the trapdoor they'd found Natsu in. Rotten flesh melted off the pile into layers of bloody goo on the floor. The odour of festering limbs pervaded the air, smothering all oxygen and making it nearly impossible to breathe. Beneath the layers of disease lay a faint smell of… burn?

Laxus ignored Lucy and stalked to the bodies in the far corner of the room. Kneeling down, he leaned close to the corpses and (trying not to gag) scrutinised the bodies. Faintly charred wafers of flesh and clothing stuck to the zombie. The crisped flesh reeked twice as badly as the ordinary odour, and though Laxus tried hard to resist, he could no longer hold down the contents of his stomach. It streamed out of his mouth, hot, chunky, disgusting mess. It came and came, and ended only when the contents of his stomach covered the floor and the corpses.

A gentle hand stroked him on the shoulder, comforting him, and he reached a hand up to grab it.

"It's horrifying, isn't it? It looks like half the hospital is dead in here."

"It's not how it looks, Blondie. It's how it smells. This shit is vile."

"It smells as bad as the rest of the hospital. I wonder how they got burned, though. I didn't see Natsu with any matches or anything."

Laxus turned to glare at Lucy. Her worried face suddenly aggravated him, her hand suddenly felt like a foreign entity invading his personal space. He shoved her hand roughly away and stood, towering over her once more. Laxus pushed past Lucy and stomped over to the pile of corpses.

"If you ever hit me again, Blondie, I swear to Mavis I'll lock you down here with these things."

Lucy took a shocked step backwards. What? Why would he say such a thing? As she watched him stand straighter and puff out his chest, realisation came to her in a flash. He was embarrassed that she saw him being weak in front of him. This show of aggression was only him trying to re-establish himself as a strong male. Honestly – men and their egos.

Lucy rolled her eyes and sauntered up to him.

"I'm sorry, Laxus. I won't hit you again. But seeing as we're on this topic, I'd rather you didn't call me crazy. I know I'm right. Can we please figure out why these things are burned? Then we'll go back up, I'll cook you dinner, and we can go to bed. Is that alright with you?"

Laxus grumbled, but eventually acquiesced and nodded his head. He moved over to a position in the floor where he could see burn marks. There was another burn mark… and another… all in different directions. Laxus frowned and pulled Lucy over so he could explain what he was seeing.

"See how the marks are all going in different directions? They're all going out. Something exploded from here outwards and hit a few of these things. Those guys in the corner got burned head on. This pile only got slightly charred. My guess is that some weak explosion hit them from this point outwards. Maybe that Natsu kid threw a gas bomb."

Lucy frowned at the floor and started searching. No bits of plastic, metal, nothing to suggest that any sort of device had been thrown to start a fire.

"I think we should ask Natsu what happened. He was here, after all."

Laxus frowned slightly, but eventually agreed that asking the brat would be a good idea. They headed out of the room, Lucy taking one last lingering look at the head of white hair.

"Did you know that guy?" Laxus asked gruffly, unsure how to deal with her sadness.

"We passed each other in the corridor once. I didn't know his name but that day… He smiled at me. It made my whole day brighter, to know that people could still smile in this place. I didn't see him again after that – I assumed he'd been released."

Lucy pulled her arms in towards herself and gripped herself into a hug. Soon enough, loud wracking sobs were pushed from her tiny body, and she could no longer walk. Laxus swooped down and picked her up bride-style, her fragile frame moulding perfectly to his arms. He kicked open the door to a bedroom and was pleased to find it free of blood and zombies. He set her down on the bed and lay down beside her, folding her into his arms. She lay in his arms, sobbing, and her beautiful face was blotchy and red, shiny with tears.

Laxus stayed silent and just held her, stroking her back gently with his fingers. The wet patch on his shirt grew and grew, his ears were starting to hurt with the constant wailing, his eyes were aching from the bright lights above him, but still he held her silently.

Soon enough, her sobs trailed off into small whimpers, which quietened into small sniffles. Lucy sat up and swiped her wrist over her eyes in a surprisingly innocent gesture. Laxus sat up and twisted around to sit beside her. He nudged her softly with his shoulder and looked down at her.

"What was that about, Blondie?"

"It's just… I don't want to be like them. Every day, I wake up and I'm so scared that they've broken into our safe place, and we're going to end up like everyone else in this place. I don't want to be a zombie. I'm just so scared, every day, and saying that man back there… it put everything into perspective. We have to get out of here, Laxus."

"We'll get out of here, Blondie. You and me, we're stuck in this together now."

"But we can't just leave things the way they are, Laxus. We can't leave other innocent people in here to be… eaten and… ripped apart. I can't do that."

Laxus rolled his eyes and stood up. He pulled her by the hand to walk with him, and she followed him quietly. He led her up to their library and sat her down on a plush armchair.

"Where did you hurt yourself? I smelled blood when I came down those stairs."

"Laxus, there's blood all over the place down there. You can't possibly have found me by the smell of my blood."

She shrugged her shirt off her shoulder and displayed the jagged cut on her back. Laxus took their first aid kit from where they'd placed it on the desk, and wiped the oozing cut with an antibacterial wipe. He taped the wound up and plastered it shut.

"Blondie, I smelled blood, I followed the smell, I found you. Okay?

"But Laxus, you _can't_ have smelled blood. Unless… has anything else weird been happening with you? Other senses?"

Laxus frowned and started to shake his head, but a niggling voice told him to stop. He furrowed his brow and thought back on the day and all that had happened. The smells, the sounds, the lights… that wasn't normal, was it?

"I… It's all of my senses. I heard things I shouldn't have been able to. I smelled your perfume and followed that, then I smelled your blood and followed the smell to you. I've been seeing everything clearly, clearer than I have been… What the fuck is going on, Blondie? What the fuck is happening to me?!"

Laxus stood up and stumbled backwards, glancing wildly around. Lucy stood and rushed to him, put her hands on his cheeks and dragged his face down towards hers. After planting a gentle kiss on his lips, she said, "It's okay, Laxus. It's okay. Don't freak out."

Laxus quietened and looked into her eyes, admiring the golden gleam that highlighted the chocolate brown. Her lashes fringed her eyes, framing the beautiful orbs with a thick layer of black. Her skin, still pink from crying, so smooth and soft. That blonde hair, so similar to his own, long and silky, enchantingly knotted and messy. Laxus looked down at her chapped, rosy lips and started to speak.

"Blondie… I want to… I mean… We need to go and talk to Natsu. We need to figure out what happened so we can fix it. And so we can help other people in this hellhole."

A small smile inched its way onto Lucy's face, expanding into a full-blown grin as she leapt into his arms and flung her arms around his neck. Whispering muffled thanks into his shoulder, Lucy could feel her heart bursting with happiness.

**-x-**

They walked into the kitchen together to see Natsu sitting forlornly at the table, an untouched mound of food in front of him. A mug of ice cold coffee sat in front of him. Hearing a noise in the doorway, Natsu leaped off the chair, brandishing the mug as a weapon, flinging coffee all over the kitchen floor. Upon seeing that it was them, his jaw slackened and his face morphed with shock.

"I thought you guys left me! I came to find you this morning and you were gone, but that door to the stair was open and I could smell blood. I thought those things got you..."

Lucy smiled and said, "I wouldn't leave you, Natsu. You're with us now. We're all gonna look after each other, and if we find anyone else, they can join us too."

Laxus glared daggers at Natsu, but grumbled out, "We all need to have a talk. We need to know more about you, where you've been hiding, what you know, and what the hell happened in that room yesterday."

Lucy grimaced at the tension between the men and walked to the fridge. After taking out the ingredients to make a simple pasta dish, she looked at the boys and told them to sit while she cooks. As she chopped vegetables, she directed her questions to Natsu.

"So Natsu, where were you hiding before yesterday? I searched all of those rooms down there several times, and I never saw any sign that anyone else was down there. I kinda thought it was just me and Laxus left."

With an embarrassed chuckle, Natsu replied. "We were hiding out in the roof. After the lights went out, Elfman and I broke out of our cells and bumped into each other while searching for food. We came up here a couple times to get food, but one day the door to the stairs was shut, and we couldn't get in. We used the trapdoor in the office downstairs to get into the roof. There were a lot of stairs up – I think it even went higher than this floor. We ended up in the attic, and we pretty much just hid up there for a while."

Lucy giggled at his embarrassed smile, and began chopping red peppers with the sharpest knife she could find.

"So, how did yesterday happen then? If you were safe in the roof, why did you come down again?"

Natsu's face darkened. "We needed food. We came down to see if we could get into the kitchens some other way, but I tripped on one of the beams and fell through the roof into that bedroom. It was night… they heard me. They got into the bedroom and rushed at me but… Elfman… he saved me. He jumped through the hole and boosted me up. He saved my life. I was trying to pull him up, but those things had grabbed his legs and were biting them all over. My hand slipped, I couldn't help it, I let go of him and he just fell into the things. He was screaming and I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING! I was useless!"

Natsu slammed his hand onto the table, cracking it slightly. Flames of fury danced in his eyes, his teeth were grinding together, and he looked as if he was ready for murder.

"Then I saw you and you… you helped me. Laxus stormed into the room and started hitting them with his bare hands. You were like a demon outta hell, man. Terrifying." Natsu grinned weakly at Laxus.

Lucy finished the dish and set it on the stove to cook. Wiping her hands on her pants, she headed back to the table and sat between the two men. She patted Natsu lightly on his hand and said, "It wasn't your fault."

Laxus, frustrated, said, "What exploded in there? Those things were torched and there's ash and burn marks on the floor. Did you throw a bomb?"

It was the most sudden change Lucy had seen. Natsu's open face suddenly closed, shutters going down behind his eyes. He hunched his shoulders, looked away and mumbled that he had no idea what happened.

Lucy and Laxus exchanged glances. There was clearly something going on with Natsu, but he didn't want to talk about it… Lucy was the first to look away at Natsu.

"Maybe it will be better if we tell you what we've figured out about this place. And about the magic."

At that, Lucy threw a defiant look at Laxus. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, but raised no objections. After dishing up pasta for each of them, Lucy launched into a description of the plans they'd found: the machines that worked off some unknown power source, the repetition of the word 'magic', how the scientists had brought the dead back to life.

"Wait, explain that again. How did the doctors bring people back?"

Lucy went and grabbed a stack of paper and some pencils from the library, and returned swiftly with them. She set the paper down on the table and started illustrating her points.

"Okay, so. The machine blueprints we found suck this 'magic' from a person, killing them in the process. By magic, I mean the unknown power that fuels the machines – we aren't 100% of what it is yet."

Lucy sketched a machine and a stick man. She drew squiggly lines between the two, with arrows pointing towards the machine. Comically, she drew tiny x's over the stickman's eyes.

"Blondie, your artistry is truly magnificent." Laxus said drily, humour dancing in his eyes.

"Oh shush, Laxus. So these machines are then full of power. The doctors then used a fraction of that power to restore life to the dead person, but they hadn't planned for the consciousness. The spark fried the consciousness, effectively rendering these poor people zombies. We haven't confirmed it yet, but I think the zombies, without their consciousness, revert to their primal survival instincts: they eat. I don't think they even notice or care that they're eating people, letting alone eating them alive."

Natsu winced, but nodded. "That all kinda makes sense. How did that happen to the whole hospital, though? The doctors wouldn't have done that to themselves, that's for sure."

Lucy went quiet a moment. She nibbled on her fingernail, debating whether or not to tell the boys her suspicions. Resolving herself to trust them, she spoke.

"I think… I think it had something to do with my stepmother, Mei. I keep having dreams about her, horrible dreams. She was a really bad person."

Natsu nodded thoughtfully, but Laxus raised a point.

"What do you both remember before you got put here? Do you remember anything? I sure as hell don't. My memory is just me being in a hospital, day after day. I can't remember who I was before I was here."

Natsu and Lucy said, simultaneously, "Me too!" They laughed out loud at each other and turned to Laxus.

Lucy took a bite of her pasta, then said, "I didn't even know I had family until the dreams started right after the lights went out. My dad… he wasn't a nice guy."

Natsu chimed in, "I don't think I have any family. The only dreams I've had have been about… parties, I think? A bunch of people laughing and having fun, celebrating. I wish my dreams were real."

He trailed off with downturned eyes. He and Lucy then turned expectantly to Laxus, waiting for him to disclose if he'd had any strange memory-dreams. He looked from one to the other, folded his arms and looked away.

"I ain't telling you about my dream. They're my own business."

Although Natsu and Lucy were upset, they understood – they all had their own, deep dark secrets that they were afraid to tell. The trio chatted for a while longer, before Natsu declared his intention to "pass out" in the other office.

Lucy and Laxus made their way to their bed and snuggled up together.

"Laxus? What do you dream about?

"Bad things, Blondie. I've done some pretty… bad things."

**-x-**

**Thank you for reading! I hope this chapter is up to standard, even if there is no smut **** I hope to be writing more frequently from now on.**

**Love,**

**Bubbles**

**xx**


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